M48 Patton Medium Tank

Even while the M47 was being accepted for service, there were known deficiencies with the design, and a number of M47s were stored in Ordnance depots until the problems had been sorted out. Work had also begun on a new medium tank and the Detroit Arsenal began a design study in October 1950 to examine possible improvements to the M47, such as the distribution of armour protection, lower ground pressure, greater range, a more durable fire control system and improved ammunition, while keeping the excellent manoeuvrability and mobility characteristics.

M48 Patton from the left
M48 Patton from the left

The design study was accepted by the Army in December the same year and a contract for the design and manufacture of a 90mm armed tank, the T48 was given to the Chrysler Corporation. Six prototypes were built, the first by December 1951 while both the Fisher Body Division of the General Motors Corporation and the Ford Motor Company at Livonia were both given production contracts in that same year for around 400 tanks. The first Chrysler production tank was unveiled on the 1 July 1952 and christened the M48 Patton by Mrs Beatrice Ayer Patton, wife of the late General George S Patton. In May 1952 Chrysler had once again come to an agreement to take control (on a Government Owned and Contractor Operated (GOCO) basis) of the Detroit Arsenal production facility with the US Government. There were many improvements to the new M48 over the M47, notably in the wider tracks, 'quick-change' gun barrel, the longer-base optical rangefinder, suspension and armour protection. It did however still have a number of faults, including the use of a petrol engine, which gave abysmal range and a slightly lower performance than the M47. The Army justified the lack of testing on the grounds that they had had little indication of how long the Korean War was going to last, and a Third World War was a possibility during the early 1950s and so the production of a new medium tank was an absolute priority. Many of the early M48s had to be rebuilt before they could be issued, but issued it was in 1953. The hull of the M48 is cast and boat-shaped with additional sections welded on. The turret is a one piece casting.

The driver sits at the front of the hull in the centre and looks through three M27 periscopes. For night driving an M24 infra-red periscope was placed in a turntable on the driver's hatch. The other three crew members were located in the turret, the commander and gunner to the right and the loader to the left. The commander had an M1 cupola had five day vision blocks and an M28C sight for controlling the 0.50in machine gun. The gunner had a roof-mounted day periscope with x8 magnification and a day periscope linked to the main armament. The tank was equipped with a ballistic computer to calculate superelevation angles for the main armament. The engine was a Continental AVDS-1790-5 series petrol engine (810bhp) married with a CD-850-4 series crossdrive transmission. The suspension is of a torsion bar type, with six rubber-tyred road wheels on each side, idler at the front, drive wheel at the rear and five return rollers. Infra-red driving lights were fitted as standard and most models have an infra-red/white light searchlight mounted over the main gun. The tank has an NBC system, heaters, and external infantry telephone and provision for a dozer blade. The tank can ford to a depth of 1.219m without preparation and 4.438m with a deep fording kit. The main armament is an M41 (T139) 90mm gun and the tank can hold up to 60 rounds for it.

Turret of M48 Patton
Turret of M48 Patton

A 7.62mm M73 machine gun is mounted coaxially with the main armament (early models had a 0.30in M1919A4E1 weapon) and a 0.50in M2HB machine gun mounted on the commander's cupola. The M48 has been continually upgraded over the years with the M48A1 featuring a larger driver's hatch, fully enclosed commander's cupola, fender dust shields and a T-type blast deflector. Work on the M48A2 was done by Alco Products Incorporated and the Chrysler Delaware Tank Plant. This featured a new fuel injection system, larger fuel tanks, improved engine deck to minimise infra-red signature, a constant-pressure turret control system, modified commander's cupola and suspension modifications. The M48A2C had only slight differences to M48A2 - most do not have a track tensioner wheel. The M48A3 was a rebuild of the M48A1 and A2 tanks and featured the replacement of the petrol engine by a AVDS-1790-2A diesel engine as used by the M60, an improved fire control system, modified commander's cupola, and reduction of the return rollers from five to three.

Work on the A3 was done by Bowen-McLaughlin-York at York, PA, the Anniston Army Depot and the Red River Army Depot. The M48A5 conversion was done at the Anniston Army Depot and consisted (amongst other things) of a new engine, the continental AVDS-1790-2D, new final drive, new integrated fire control system, turret electrical kit, 105mm M68 main gun, shield, cover and mount, turret stowage, mounting positions for a 7.62mm machine gun for the loader, and new commander's cupola. The M48 was exported to many countries allied to the US. Many of these have introduced upgrades including Germany (M48A2GA2 which has the 105mm L7A3 rifled gun as on the Leopard 1), Greece (fitted the STN ATLAS Elektronik MOLF computerised fire control system), South Korea, Spain (Peugeot Talbot conversion M48A5E1 and E2 featuring a Hughes fire control system), Taiwan (M48H), Turkey (M48A5T1 and T2 with the MTU MB 837 series diesel engine) and Israel (conversions to bring the M48 up to the upgraded M60 standard, known as the MAGACH-7).

(M48A5) Hull length: 6.42m.
Hull width: 3.63m.
Height: 3.09m.
Crew: 4.
Ground Clearance: 0.42m.
Weight: 49,000kg (combat).
Ground pressure: 0.88kg/sq.cm.
Max speed: 48km/h.
Max range (internal fuel): up to 500km on road.
Armament: 105mm rifled main gun, 1 x 7.62mm MG coaxial, 1 x 7.62mm MG on loaders hatch, 1 x 0.5in MG on commander's cupola.

The Patton Tank Cold War Warrior, Michael Green. Focuses on the first major US tank to emerge after the Second World War, the M46/ M47/ M48 Patton, a family of tanks originally developed from the wartime M26 Pershing but that evolved into a much more capable modern design, and that in a very modified form is still in service. Combines a good technical history of these three Pattons with useful operational information, all supported by an excellent collection of photographs, in particular those looking at the interior of the tank (Read Full Review)
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M48 Patton vs Centurion - Indo-Pakistani War 1965, David R. Higgins. Looks at the 1965 war between India and Pakistan, a rare example of a post-war conflict in which British and American tanks served on opposite sides. Includes a useful account of the development of the two tanks, the versions in service during the war and an account of the fighting itself. Not so strong on the direct comparison between the effectiveness of the two types when operating against each other [read full review]
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M48, Tillotson, Geoffrey, Ian Allan Ltd, Shepperton, 1981, 112 pages
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Modern American Armour , Zaloga, Stephen & Loop, James, Arms and Armour Press, London, 1982.
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How to cite this article: Antill, P. (8 March 2001), M48 Patton Medium Tank, http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_m48patton.html

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